The effect of inlet pressure distortion on the performance of an axisymmetric compact tube heat exchanger with radial counter flow type for hypersonic pre-cooled aero-engine

The compact tube heat exchanger located behind the air-intake can achieve quick cooling of high-temperature air to ensure the normal operation of the pre-cooled aeroengine. It has great impact on the engine’s performance. The total pressure distribution at the heat exchanger inlet is inevitably uneven due to the influence of the air-intake. This paper studies the effect of three typical inlet distortions with different amplitudes using porous model and dual cell model. The results indicated that the outlet total pressure distortion is not sensitive to the inlet total pressure distortion. However, it affects the total pressure recovery and the total temperature distortion at the outlet by altering the pressure loss in the heat exchanger upstream and the flux distribution at the heat-transfer-zone entrance, respectively. This leads to a reduction of heat transfer. The effect of inlet distortions varies with distortion type. And it becomes more severe with increasing distortion.